To be a cinematographer in the digital age

The digital age has clearly generated great new tools for the cinematographer. We are being “bombarded” with new equipment and new digital imaging technology, new solutions and new possibilities. But also never-ending different new approaches and varying new technical menus and solutions from many different camera and equipment manufacturers.The IMAGO Technical Committee is therefore preparing a list of requests to be presented to camera manufacturers, in a wish to be able to influence the design of new equipment and software to maximally suit cinematographers needs.

Before finalizing these requests the Committee has sent out a Survey to all members to ask for their views and experiences, and the plan is for the answers to be treated and the requests to be discussed and finalized during this year´s IBC.I believe the time has come to make cinematographer´s voices heard, and IMAGO is an important tool for this aim. Together we have a stronger voice!And there are of course numerous other challenges that comes with the digital age, making it more difficult for cinematographers to remain in control of our images.As Kees van Oostrum, ASC President, lately wrote in an article, “we seem to be becoming mere suppliers of some fundamental base image, and we are constantly challenged about how that image should be interpreted and told how it should be changed”.Many production companies do not even invite cinematographers to be part of the post grading of the cinematographer´s images, and if they are allowed into the grading suite, many are not being paid for the work they do.And the increasing parameters and possibilities in digital cinematography creates also other challenges for cinematographers. In too many film archives around the World, films from our film heritage is being digitally restored and made new versions of, too often without consulting the film´s cinematographer to ask her or his view on how the look of the images were intended and resulting in too many greatly depressed cinematographers saying to themselves, “this is not how I intended my images to look!”Rather sooner than later, we need to sit down and discuss how we can get back the control over our images. IMAGO will take an initiative!